Olympics All Format Spoiler Thread

DeVlaeminck

Pross said:

above_the_cows said:

Pross said:

Just looked at the cost of joining my local rowing club. It's £325 per year for full use of facilities and £132 for juniors which seems fairly good. They do a 4 week 'learn to row' course for adults at £95.

If I was 20 years younger I might have given it a go.

Again, it's one of those where the assumption that only a particular type of person participates ends up becoming self-fulfilling.

Access is not just about cost but also about fostering spaces where people feel welcome. Just ask lots of women why they don't cycle seriosuly for example. It's not just about cost, it's about not being made to feel like a weirdo outsider and many sports, including cycling have a LONG way to go in that.

There is NO way I would ride with most clubs where I live for example. Too much d1ck swinging.

My old club went out of its way to attract women. Some local person put money into the club specifically for that purpose and it resulted in us having a club team competing at the top of women's domestic cycling within a year or two (several individual riders in the national top 10 rankings). Our kids training sessions used to get 30 plus turn up every week and we had a few club bikes we loaned out for a nominal deposit (unfortunately quite a few people neglected basic maintenance and returned them in bad condition).

I do get your point though, I took a 12 year break from that club and when I went back it had changed beyond recognition. Club runs were no longer social rides at the pace of the slowest, regrouping at the top of climbs and having a cafe stop halfway. I paced one guy 30 miles home one week when no:one else had time to wait. The next week he obviously felt better and decided to drive on the front when I was struggling to hold on the back leaving me to ride the final 10 miles solo.

Yes been there - when I was reasonably fit I used to lead beginners chain gang groups or club runs in the Autumn when I was taking a break from training.

Amazing how many people who were getting a kicking every week suddenly take the opportunity of a lack of fast lads (and lasses) to hand out a kicking to those slower than them.

ddraver

Whose the American guy calling the Table tennis? He's like a Simpsons character!

No_Ta_Doctor

Regarding handball...

I've never played it, but know a few who have, and what you may not notice from watching is how incredibly vicious it is. Despite similar rules to basketball re fouls, there is a *lot* of contact, and the players are all well over 6 foot and most are 4 foot wide as well. You're basically going to get blokes just shy of 100kg running and jumping into you repeatedly during a match. You're probably safer playing rugby, as at least you'd be landing on grass.

As for Olympic funding...
It's absolutely clear that the priority is maximising medals in the short term. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, but it doesn't sit well with the "inspire the kids" rhetoric used to justify it. This is particularly obvious when you see that sports with low global participation and high infra/equipment costs (track cycling etc) are where the best medal counts are possible but are still pretty low on kid participation. BMX tracks are cheaper than velodromes and the bikes are cheaper too, but there's far less cash available. Basketball, one of the most widely participated sports, got bugger all, because there's no medal hope. What are we supposed to be inspiring kids in inner cities to do? Where are the rowing clubs, the dressage riding clubs in Haringey or Toxteth? "Be the best you can" is great until you find the sport you excel at doesn't have any elite funding to help you do that.

RichN95.

GB doing very well at the triathlon relay at the moment. Leading after two legs with two silver medallists to come.

RichN95.

A close finale. France, GB and almost USA together going into the last run.

RichN95.

And GB won. Alex Yee looks like Romain Bardet

Lanterne_Rogue

No_Ta_Doctor said:

Regarding handball...

I've never played it, but know a few who have, and what you may not notice from watching is how incredibly vicious it is. Despite similar rules to basketball re fouls, there is a *lot* of contact, and the players are all well over 6 foot and most are 4 foot wide as well. You're basically going to get blokes just shy of 100kg running and jumping into you repeatedly during a match. You're probably safer playing rugby, as at least you'd be landing on grass.

I've got a mate who played handball as a semi-pro, and he spent most of his time banged up. The only good bit about it was when an unsuspected tumour ripped a blood vessel open he was in a place where everyone was already primed to hurl him into an ambulance rather than let him bleed to death.

Back to the triathlon relay, and Alex Yee pulled off a bit of wheelsucking for the ages there. The French anchor tried to skin him (having caught him over the swim and bike), and Yee just sprinted to get on the wheel, sat on and made him work with the French bloke clearly getting irritated. Then popped past to take a couple of seconds before the transition. Pure evil, and very funny to watch.

DeVlaeminck

Liked the way the French guy approached that - really gave it a go - maybe needed to sit on Yee for 10 seconds to recover but credit to him for launching a couple of proper attacks on the bike.

Lanterne_Rogue

DeVlaeminck said:

Liked the way the French guy approached that - really gave it a go - maybe needed to sit on Yee for 10 seconds to recover but credit to him for launching a couple of proper attacks on the bike.

I think he had to - all the talk beforehand had suggested the run was Yee's strongest leg, and catching him cold was the best bet. It just didn't work, but that's not Luis' fault.

RichN95.

DeVlaeminck said:

Liked the way the French guy approached that - really gave it a go - maybe needed to sit on Yee for 10 seconds to recover but credit to him for launching a couple of proper attacks on the bike.

I think he was trying to distance the American too.

I'd love there to be a triathlon relay on the last day but with people from swimming, cycling and running rather than triathlon.

Lanterne_Rogue

RichN95. said:

DeVlaeminck said:

Liked the way the French guy approached that - really gave it a go - maybe needed to sit on Yee for 10 seconds to recover but credit to him for launching a couple of proper attacks on the bike.

I think he was trying to distance the American too.

I'd love there to be a triathlon relay on the last day but with people from swimming, cycling and running rather than triathlon.

Yeah, having specialists on each leg would be fun.

elbowloh

Going back to handball, I just don't get it. Seeks like a ridiculous sport to me. I'm sure it's not, but being able to sling a ball in for a goal just seems to be too easy.

RichN95.

Another event I'd like to see is a version of the TV show Superstars. A country can enter any medallist for a competition on the last two days.

Lanterne_Rogue

The Guardian have an interview with the gold medallist diver Matty Lee, and there's a great bit of detail about how you have to go through security every time you enter the athlete's village...

“And when I put the medal in the tray all the Japanese security people went crazy and started clapping. That was a really nice moment.”

With no crowds, I should imagine for many athletes that's the moment it really hits home.

edit: also, well played security people. It'll make someone's games.

JimD666

tailwindhome said:

I'd say a competitor who rocks up self funded and takes gold should qualify for some sort of retrospective grant

I'm pretty sure that Beth Shriever has been a funded cyclist by British Cycling since approx 2019 after the BC performance director lobbied to get UK Sport to allow them to reallocate funds.

In Beth's own words "For Sparky to see my potential and give me a chance to be a full-time athlete shot me in the right direction".

Did she crowdfund in 2017 after funding was removed due to a succession of poor performances by those who went before her? Yes. Did she rock up on her own cash? No.

pblakeney

RichN95. said:

DeVlaeminck said:

Liked the way the French guy approached that - really gave it a go - maybe needed to sit on Yee for 10 seconds to recover but credit to him for launching a couple of proper attacks on the bike.

I think he was trying to distance the American too.

I'd love there to be a triathlon relay on the last day but with people from swimming, cycling and running rather than triathlon.

I did wonder how good the teams could be.

Pross

RichN95. said:

DeVlaeminck said:

Liked the way the French guy approached that - really gave it a go - maybe needed to sit on Yee for 10 seconds to recover but credit to him for launching a couple of proper attacks on the bike.

I think he was trying to distance the American too.

I'd love there to be a triathlon relay on the last day but with people from swimming, cycling and running rather than triathlon.

Or swim, bike, run and row to be a bit different

TheBigBean

I'm intrigued by the mixed medlay. I would have assumed that the male/female difference would be greatest across slowest strokes and therefore the men would do those. This doesn't seem to be the case for a lot of countries though. I know nothing about swimming.

Pross

DeVlaeminck said:

Liked the way the French guy approached that - really gave it a go - maybe needed to sit on Yee for 10 seconds to recover but credit to him for launching a couple of proper attacks on the bike.

It was clear when he tried to attack Yee that he knew he couldn't beat him in the run. It was also clear the way he couldn't pull away from the American that he'd put everything into the catch.

It was like I used to commute and I'd be aware of someone going hard to catch me then once they went past they get 5m in front and die. He had to do it though, they messed up their strategy and left him far too much to make up.

It makes for interesting tactics as you can open a nice gap as GB did but then you end up at the mercy of a strong working group on the bike. I felt a few teams made a mistake by pushing on rather than getting together, on Tayloer-Brown's leg a couple of the chasing pack messed up mounting the bike which meant she had a much smaller group chasing her that she could hold off.

No_Ta_Doctor

elbowloh said:

Going back to handball, I just don't get it. Seeks like a ridiculous sport to me. I'm sure it's not, but being able to sling a ball in for a goal just seems to be too easy.

Well the main thing that stops it being easy is the six guys apparently hewn from oak that are trying to stop you slinging the ball in the goal. It's also why the heroes of major tournaments are frequently the keepers, its quite difficult to keep the ball out, which is the other part of the job. You also have to release the ball before you step inside the goal area, so there's a lot of timing involved while you feint in mid air (that's the technical bit) and you've probably taken some contact during your jump, so there's a good chance you're not landing cleanly on your feet. But as with all competitions that involve some sort of game, it's not how easy or hard any particular task in it is, it's being better at it than someone else.

Pross

Classic Daily Mail headline stating that Shriever had to crowd fund after "British Cycling decided to only fund male riders". I don't profess to know anything about BMX but I suspect the reality is that the funding was results based rather than gender based and no female cyclist hit the criteria at the time (which lends support to TBB's concerns over results based funding). There really is a hatred of BC at the Mail.

neonriver

Pross said:

Classic Daily Mail headline stating that Shriever had to crowd fund after "British Cycling decided to only fund male riders". I don't profess to know anything about BMX but I suspect the reality is that the funding was results based rather than gender based and no female cyclist hit the criteria at the time (which lends support to TBB's concerns over results based funding). There really is a hatred of BC at the Mail.

Especially when it was uk sport the told BC to cut women’s bmx and men’s xc mountain bike. But since when do the daily fail need facts for a story

RichN95.

Out of interest where does the funding for British Cyclo Cross come from? I assume it's not from British Cycling as it's not an Olympic event.

tailwindhome

JimD666 said:

tailwindhome said:

I'd say a competitor who rocks up self funded and takes gold should qualify for some sort of retrospective grant

I'm pretty sure that Beth Shriever has been a funded cyclist by British Cycling since approx 2019 after the BC performance director lobbied to get UK Sport to allow them to reallocate funds.

In Beth's own words "For Sparky to see my potential and give me a chance to be a full-time athlete shot me in the right direction".

Did she crowdfund in 2017 after funding was removed due to a succession of poor performances by those who went before her? Yes. Did she rock up on her own cash? No.

Cheers

neonriver

RichN95. said:

Out of interest where does the funding for British Cyclo Cross come from? I assume it's not from British Cycling as it's not an Olympic event.

Possibly the sponsor money they get from HSBC etc.

With Pidcocks gold as well they can use the argument that it helps develop riders so could be able to use some of the uk sport money as well

Pross

WTF happened to Dina? I thought she would get a medal and be in contention for gold so missing the final is a bit of a shock.

gsk82

Pross said:

WTF happened to Dina? I thought she would get a medal and be in contention for gold so missing the final is a bit of a shock.

She pulled out of a race at Gateshead a few weeks ago with an injury.

Alternatively she's been eating nothing but pink Muller yogurt and it's affected her speed

ddraver

Shame

I'm not sure she was ever really a medal contender, but still. I have a bit of a soft spot for her, I think she's a good (yuck) "role model for young women in sport"

daniel_b

Pross said:

WTF happened to Dina? I thought she would get a medal and be in contention for gold so missing the final is a bit of a shock.

That's really sad, high hopes.
2024 I guess.

ddraver

Twitter now saying hamstring injury. Out of 200m and (I'm guessing) relay too